When one of the market’s biggest bears turns bullish, you can bet there’s going to be a lot of fallout.

David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist for Toronto-based Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc., has riled up some of his followers this year after a big shift from equity bear to stock market cheerleader. It’s a surprise turn for a man who only last year declared the “cult of equity” over.

“Some of the comments that I was getting from some of the readers were just astonishing — calling me a turncoat, accusing me of succumbing to pressure,” he said.

Mr. Rosenberg has long been skeptical of the U.S. economic recovery and advocated investors stay bullish on government bonds. But his skepticism started fading earlier this year as data showing improving employment and consistent GDP growth kept piling in. Mr. Rosenberg firmly left the bear camp in August, when he declared the bond bull market was done.

“I think there is a firmer floor under the [U.S.] economy today than there’s been at any other time in the past four years,” he said.

Mr. Rosenberg is no stranger to facing pushback for his views. He’s been stubbornly skeptical of the current U.S. recovery, in spite of data suggesting otherwise. His ongoing warnings of a double-dip recession risk — even bringing up the possibility that the U.S. was in a depression — earned him no shortage of critics.

“I received so many letters from people who were very bullish, who were complaining about my lack of constructive assessments on the economy, but rarely was it insulting,” he said, talking about the recent pushback. “So this time around, it was almost like I was being accused of changing religions, that’s how intense it was.”

While Mr. Rosenberg is often lumped into the “permabear” camp, it’s not an entirely accurate label. His recent move into the bullish camp wasn’t sudden, either. In October 2009, Mr. Rosenberg made a particularly optimistic call on Canadian assets, declaring himself to be a “huge Canada bull.” That call panned out in Mr. Rosenberg’s favour as the TSX went on to return 25% over the next 18 months.

When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?

Mr. Rosenberg’s bullishness on the U.S., meanwhile, goes back to last year. In a commentary published June 2012, aptly titled “Parting of the clouds,” Mr. Rosenberg declared he was more optimistic about the U.S. economy than he had been in decades. His subsequent commentary continued to show more bullish tilts over the next year.

Critics, however, point out that Mr. Rosenberg stayed too bearish for too long. He continued to call for S&P 500 to fall well below the 1,000 level in the past few years, something it has not done since mid-2009. Last year, when the S&P 500 was up 140% from its March 2009 lows, a reader of Mr. Rosenberg’s emailed him, asking: “When are you going to throw in the towel, and admit that you have been absolutely, indefinitely wrong about you predictions?”

While Mr. Rosenberg won’t call his recent shift throwing in the towel, he does recall a John Maynard Keynes quote to justify his new position. “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

When asked whether he sees anything on the horizon that might put him back into the bear camp, Mr. Rosenberg brings up financial risks in Europe and China, or a sudden shift in the U.S. recovery, but says the probability of those events is now a lot lower than last year.

“I’m not going to stand here and say there’s a zero percent probability that that would happen, but it’s not a base case,” he said.

Active Investor was produced by Postmedia's advertising department in collaboration with iShares by BlackRock to promote awareness of this topic for commercial purposes. Postmedia's editorial departments had no involvement in the creation of this content.